The largest U.S. hotel-casino operators with a presence in Macau boosted first-quarter profit from increased business to the Asia gaming destination, while results at Caesars Entertainment, which does not operate overseas, improved because of a one-time year-earlier charge.
Las Vegas' impact on earnings was mixed.
Net income at Las Vegas Sands rose 15% from a year earlier, to $572 million, largely as a result of increased revenue from the three phases of its Sands Cotai Central project in Macau that have opened since April 2012.
Those new properties, which generated $587.2 million in Q1 revenue, helped offset the effects of a drop in profit at the company's Las Vegas hotels, where a 7.3% increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR) was more than canceled out by lower table-gaming winnings. Overall, Las Vegas Sands' revenue rose 20%, to $3.3 billion.
MGM Resorts International reported net income of $6.55 million, compared with a $217.3 million loss a year earlier, when the company took certain one-time charges. Revenue rose 2.8%, to $2.35 billion, while hotel, casino, food and beverage and interest expenses all either fell or were little-changed.
Additionally, improved gaming results pushed revenue at the company's Macau resort up 6%, while rising demand for rooms at MGM Resorts' Bellagio and Aria hotels increased the company's RevPAR on the Vegas Strip by 1%.
Caesars, which was the hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy last year because of its Atlantic City holdings, narrowed its Q1 loss by 22%, to $217.6 million, primarily because of a year-earlier asset-impairment charge from a halted project that had been slated for Biloxi, Miss.
Caesars' Las Vegas hotel revenue fell 3.4% from a year earlier; the company said business was hindered by the work Caesars is doing on its $550 million Linq retail and entertainment project, whose first phase opens later this year. Revenue at Caesars' Atlantic City resorts was down 16%.
Finally, Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s net income jumped 44%, to $203 million, on a combination of improved gaming earnings in Macau, more hotel-room demand in Las Vegas and reduced entertainment and administrative costs.
Wynn's operating income in Macau rose 14%, while its Las Vegas RevPAR increased 6% as occupancy advanced 3.6 percentage points and room rates rose 1.4%. Overall, revenue rose 5%, to $1.38 billion.
Visits to Macau rose 1.9%, to 7.08 million, with year-over-year increases coming from mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand, Macau's Statistics and Census Service reported late last month.
As for Las Vegas, its visitor total of 6.16 million through February marked a 1% decline from a year earlier, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Average room rates were little changed at about $112, while hotel occupancy fell 0.2 of a percentage point, to 83.8%. Las Vegas gaming revenue rose 4.2% on the Strip but was down 6.3% in downtown.
Las Vegas attracted a record 39.7 million visitors last year.